This month's newsletter contains: * RAOGK POLICIES * PUBLIC RECORDS * THANK YOU * CURRENT STATS RAOGK POLICIES Living people. The month of August has seen an increase of requests for information on the living. Please remember that looking up information on a living person from a request made through the RAOGK site is not condoned. As many people on the Internet that mean no harm, there are just as many surfing the Internet that do. As we do not know the intent of the person making the request, we have decided to err on the side of caution and ask you not honor requests of this type. Many requests for information on the living are very obvious in their wording. Some are looking for birth parents or for long lost brothers and sisters or even old friends. Please refer those requesters back to the FAQ for Requester's to this item: http://www.raogk.org/faq-requesters.html#fqr16 Other requests are phrased in such a way that you may have a hint that they are looking for someone who is still living. These types of requests are in a "gray area" on whether to honor the request or not. If you do not feel comfortable in fulfilling a request, then don't, but do reply back to the requester that you are unable to do so. Replying to requests. As a reminder, the one thing that we do *require* of a volunteer is that they acknowledge receipt of a request. This acknowledgement should not be sent for 48 hours, but no longer than 2 weeks should elapse from time received to acknowledgement. It is to your advantage to acknowledge receipt of a request prior to doing anything. Many times the requesters make typos in their email address with the end result of not being able to contact them. A suggestion is made to ask the requester a question they need to reply to so you know they have received your email. It could be letting them know upfront what the cost might be for copies and mileage or asking for more information. Contacting Staff Our "Change in Status" page (http://www.raogk.org/change.html) has links to the different changes you would like to make with your entries. However, if you should need to contact staff for any other reason besides changing your entry (http://www.raogk.org/contact.html), please remember to either write from, or provide within the body of the message, the email address you have used to volunteer. Since email addresses are like fingerprints, no two people can have the same email address, our main database consists of only email addresses. Corresponding from the address we have listed, or not including it within the body of your message, will cause delay in replying to you or receiving a message that we do not have you listed on our site as a volunteer. Temporary Status (aka Inactive Status) As we require volunteers to acknowledge receipts of requests in a timely fashion, we also understand that there are periods of time when you are unable to do so. We have given you the ability to go on temporary/inactive status through the Change in Status page (http://www.raogk.org/change.html) to cover these periods of time. Inactive status can be from 2 weeks to 3 months. Should you need more than 3 months away from RAOGK, we do ask that you do a removal instead. You can always return when you are able. As important as it is to notify us that you will be inactive, it is just as important that you return to the Change of Status page and notify us that you want to become active again. There are only 6 members of staff, volunteers just like yourself, handling 4200+ volunteers, please help them out by letting them know when you have returned. Thanks. PUBLIC RECORDS Ever wonder what the phrase "public records" includes? This comes from a professional genealogist: Public records are materials that are open to inspection by any person. The definition of what records are public varies depending on state and federal law. The definition may include government contracts with businesses, birth, marriage, divorce, and death records, court (criminal and civil) files, arrest records, property ownership and tax information, minutes of meetings of government entities, driver's license information, voters' information, occupational licenses, and Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Many of these public records contain individuals' personal information. This personal information is required to be divulged when citizens interact with state or federal bureaucracies for the purpose of administering voting, public benefits, and privileges. However, once a record becomes public, there is generally no restriction on the purpose for which the personal information contained within the record is used. THE RAOGK SHOP We have two shops online, revenue from sales in these shops do help a little in defraying the cost of maintaining RAOGK's presence on the internet. The RAOGK Logo store: http://www.cafepress.com/raogk?pid=2851439&tid=608 Gift items from mugs to teddy bears, along with magnets and buttons in 2 different sizes. This shop also has our famous (or infamous ) Cookbook. http://www.cafepress.com/raogk.37799377?pid=2851439&tid=608 Holi-daze Here's an eye opener for you. .did you know that there are 61 more days until Halloween, which means that there are only 116 more days until Christmas. We have Halloween designs on tote bags, coffee mugs, baby creepers (could be used as 'my first Halloween costume') and more: http://www.cafepress.com/genealogyforyou/849580?pid=2851439&tid=608 Ornaments, greeting cards, tile inlayed keepsake boxes, framed tiles, pillows, aprons, mugs and t-shirts are available with Christmas themes. http://www.cafepress.com/genealogyforyou/793923?pid=2851439&tid=608 For your convenience, I have add the current $5 off of $20 coupon code at the top right of every page on the Genealogy For You site. That coupon gives you FREE SHIPPING. You can now ship (within the USA) from 1 to 5 items for just $5.00. THANK YOU A great big THANK YOU goes out to one and all who have helped RAOGK to continue to be a presence online. Your purchases through one of our stores or by sending a donation via PayPal or check are very much appreciated. CURRENT STATS Last month: 4271 This month: 4242 New: 84 Left: 55 Staff removals*: 57 August Requests (through August 30, 2005): 6,864 USA volunteers received: 6,023 NON-USA volunteers received: 841 *Staff removals are those folks whose e-mail address has been reported bouncing and confirmed or volunteers who, over the course of trying many times, did not respond back to requesters or staff (24). The STAFF thanks you for volunteering and until next month. . . . . . THE STAFF Bridgett, Michele, Bill, Anja, Terri, Nancy, Jo, Mollie, Bonnie, Melissa and Doc, the Tech Guru